Check out The Dispatch's new approach on Facebook

Saturday

Nov 17, 2012 at 12:01 AM

My younger son was looking for a quick, inexpensive costume to attend a Halloween party. An Internet search provided the answer: Mark Zuckerberg wearing a bath robe, T-shirt, long pajama pants and slides, a look he had been known to sport. We had all those clothing items, so he was all set.

Chad Killebrew

My younger son was looking for a quick, inexpensive costume to attend a Halloween party. An Internet search provided the answer: Mark Zuckerberg wearing a bath robe, T-shirt, long pajama pants and slides, a look he had been known to sport. We had all those clothing items, so he was all set.He did worry that others might not know who he was. I'll admit I wouldn't have known if I hadn't seen a picture of Zuckerberg wearing that attire. But I always admire clever, inexpensive costumes, so I assured him it would be fine, and he could always tell people who he was dressed up as.But would telling someone he was Mark Zuckerberg be greeted with blank stares? For many people, that might be the case. But as soon as he told them the company that Zuckerberg heads, acknowledgement would quickly come — since that company is Facebook.The social networking site has become a global phenomenon since its founding at Harvard University in 2004. Often businesses will now promote their Facebook page rather than a website to share information with customers. The site boasts more than 1 billion users, according to Facebook.The Dispatch launched a Facebook page about three years ago, initially to tie in with our online Teen page featuring articles from our high school staff. A couple of years ago we revamped the page and use a website that pulls content from the-dispatch.com and sends it to Facebook. That meant anyone who liked The Dispatch of Lexington could see the same stories that appeared on our regular website.But that approach had its drawbacks. For one, sometimes I'd see four or five consecutive posts from The Dispatch of Lexington appear in my news feed as content was uploaded to our website. It also meant our Facebook page was not very different from the-dispatch.com. Little interaction took place between readers and our staff.That all changed this week. I turned off the transfer of content from the-dispatch.com, and now our staff is posting directly to Facebook. These posts cover a wide range of subjects. It also allows readers to interact with us in a different way.I posted Thursday about how a Triad radio station was already playing Christmas music and asked if readers thought it was too early. Twelve people commented, with some saying yes to my question (which would be my response) and others saying no, that they enjoyed hearing it.Sports writer Jason Queen made a humorous post about how spellcheck on smartphones isn't always too bright. Every time he typed the word crud (which unfortunately he and many others have right now) his phone changed it to crude. Chief photographer Donnie Roberts posted "a rant" in his words about complaints directed at businesses that open on Thanksgiving. Consumers ultimately are to blame, he said, and 42 people liked his post that generated seven comments.Other staff members are linking to stories that have appeared on the-dispatch.com or previewing ones to come. Some promote upcoming community events. And we've also asked for readers to help with stories; reporter Darrick Ignasiak heard from several folks as he prepared an article looking back at the deadly tornado from a year ago.The 11 members of The Dispatch newsroom will post on our Facebook page. The posts will begin with an indication about who is making the post, since all will originate from The Dispatch of Lexington. I've been extremely pleased with the first two weeks of our new approach to the social networking site.If you haven't liked our page or unliked it after checking it out previously, I'd encourage you to pay a visit. I promise we won't clutter up your news feed, and I hope you find the information that appears interesting. I like how Facebook allows us another avenue to reach readers and interact with them, but we need folks to visit the page for that interaction to occur.Not everyone participates on Facebook, of course, but it provides us another way to share information, just like the print edition, the-dispatch.com and our Twitter feed (@lexdispatch, which continues to post almost all stories from our website). Each platform offers different advantages, but to obtain the full picture I encourage people to use all.Ultimately, our goal is to disseminate information to as many people as possible in the best method for that reader.Chad Killebrew is executive editor of The Dispatch. He can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 215, or at chad.killebrew@the-dispatch.com.